Pictures



gatita Gea-cw VILLIAM POTTS,'OF HANDSWORTH, ENGLAND.

Letters Patent No. 84,645, dated December 1, 1868.

To all to whom fit may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAMPOTTS, ofHandsworth, in the county of Stafford, England, manufacturer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented or discovered new and use'ful Improvements in Apparatus for suspending Pictures, and other articles and I, the said WrLLIAu Potrrs, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, andin what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof; that is to say- My invention consists of the improvements, hereinafter described, in apparatus for suspending pictures and other articles.

The said apparatus, as ordinarily made, consists of an iron rail, aihxed to wooden plugs in the walls, the said rail being nearly semicircular in cross-section, the convex side being turned outwards, and the lower or inner edge being turned upwards, so as to constitute a rail on which the hooks for suspending the pictures or other articles can freely slide. ered by an ornamental covering of brass, or other metal, affixed thereto by small tongues on the said ornamental covering, being bent over thetop edge of the iron rail, or by overlapping the upper and lower edges of the iron by the brass.

My invention consists in making the said iron rail with a close-tting or nearly close-iitting, ornamental covering, of brass, or other metal or material, which said covering, when made of metal, is affixed to the said rail of iron by bending, or by pressure, or by screwing the said rail and ornamental covering to the wall by screws passing through the said rail and the said casing. v

When the ornamental casing is made of a nonmetallic substance, such, for example, as papier-mache', I attach it by shellac, or other adhesive material, or by screws.

By forming the close-fitting ornamental metal covering (which has been previously stamped) upon the iron rail, less metal is required in the said covering, and the manufacture of the rail is much facilitated.

By attaching a nearly close-fitting ornamental covering by screws, as described, and by making a nonmetallic ornamental covering fit closely upon the rail, likeeconomy in material and facility of manufacture are secured. Y

Having explained the nature of my invention, I will proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying drawing, the manner inwhich the same is to be performed.

Figure 1 represents a portion ofthe foundation of a rail for supporting pictures, or other articles, made according to my invention, and

Figure 2 represents the same, with its close-fitting, or nearly close-tting, metallic casing or covering.

The foundation, iig. l, is made, by-preference, ofiron, and the metallic covering or casing is made, by preference,.of thin sheet-metal.

rIhe said iro'n rail is cov- The iron foundation is marked a, in figs. l and 2, and the brass covering or casing-is marked b, ing. 2. rlhe rail or apparatus is xed to the top ofthe wall of the room,`by means of screws, c, passing through holes, d, in the rail, the said screws c taking into wooden plugs driven into the wall.

The turned-up portion of the rail serves for the reception of the sliding hooks, of the kind represented in Figure 8, to which the pictures, or other articles are hung. f

The foundation @may be raised from dat sheetmetal, either by the process of drawing or by pressure in dies.

The close-fitting covering or casing 4b may be formed by drawing, and may be put on the foundation a by a sliding motion.

In order to make the said covering or casing t more tightly upon the foundation, it may be drawn together through a draw-plate, after the casing b has been put upon the foundation Instead of xing the parts a and b together by drawing, the screws c, by which the rail is xed to the wall, may, by the pressure of their heads, be made to secure thecovering b to the foundation a.

The picture-rail, figs. l and 2, is thesimplest form of my invention.

Figures 3 and 4 represent a picture-rail of another form, made according to my invention.

This rail has the figure, which will be understood by an examination of the drawing, and consists of two parts, the foundation, of iron, a, and the close-fitting covering or casing, of brass, or other thin sheet-metal, 11".

The foundation a2 may be made by drawing, or by pressure in dies, and the covering or casing b2 may be .lixedupon the foundation c2 by drawing.

Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent modifications of my invention, in which an ornamented casing or covering is fixed upon the foundation.l

The ornamented casingis raised in dies by pressure, or may be formed in zmy other convenient manner, and fits closely upon .the foundation in all those parts which have the same figure as the foundation..

"The ornamented casing,lafter being put upon .the foundation, may, if thought desirable, be secured thereto at intervals by small screws, or rivets, or other fastenings.

In g. 8, two of the hooks which engage with the rail, and by which the pictures or other articles are;

suspended, are represented, and marked respectively f y. The hook f shows the manner in which the tops of the hooks engage with and slide upon the turned-in lower edge of the rail.

The rails, figs. 3,4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, are fixed to the`v wall of the room by means of staples, of the kind represented in Figure 9, or screws, of the kind represented in Figure 10. I

The staple, tig. 9, is driven into the wall or joints ofthe brickworkand the screw, iig. 10, is screwed into wood. The heads of the said staples or screws are made of the form represented, and have a notch, or recess, 71, in which the upper edge of the picture-rail engages.

In the staple, iig. 9, the picture-rail is represented as engaged in the notch in the staple.

When I employ an ornamental covering or casing, made ofpapier-mach or other non-metallic substance, I attach it to the foundation by shellac, or other adhesive matter, employed in the way proper for the adhesive matter used, or I attach the non-metallic covering or casing to the foundation by screws.

Although I have represented the forms of the foundation of the rails wl1icl'1,in practice, I have found most convenient to employ, yet the forms of the said foundations may be varied Without departing from the uature of my invention.

Having now described the nature of my invention, and the manner in which the same is to'be performed,

so asto constitute a rail upon which the pioture-supporting hooks can freely slide, provided with an ornamental covering or casing, of a metallic or non-metallic substance, as described, and att-ached to the wall of the room by means of screws or staples, in the manner shown and set forth.

'*ILLIAM POTTS. [1.. 8.]

\Vituesses: i

RICHARD SKERRETT, 7 Can/non Street, Birmingham,

JAMES YUTIN,

7 Camion Street, Birmingham. 

